


'tis the season (to light up the neighborhood)

by mylifeiskara



Series: t100 Fic for BLM Prompts [7]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Dad!Bellamy, Dad!Murphy, F/M, Fluff, Murphy and Bellamy taking things way too seriously?, it's more likely than you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeiskara/pseuds/mylifeiskara
Summary: Bellamy Blake takes pride in the fact that he is the reigning champion of his neighborhood's holiday lights competition three years running. Murphy and his wife are new to the neighborhood, but Murphy is hellbent on making a name for himself their first holiday season. Clarke and Raven think their husbands are ridiculous, but they're just along for the ride.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, John Murphy/Raven Reyes
Series: t100 Fic for BLM Prompts [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105646
Comments: 14
Kudos: 71
Collections: The t100 Writers for BLM Initiative





	'tis the season (to light up the neighborhood)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [infieldsofgold](https://archiveofourown.org/users/infieldsofgold/gifts).



> Hello! I'm here with a fashionably late Christmas fic.
> 
> This was a fun prompt I received where Bellamy and Murphy are in a Christmas lights decoration feud. Thank you to the prompter for enabling me to finally name Murphy and Raven's child, because I had been drawing a blank on what to call him, and this forced me to actually think about it lol. I had a lot of fun writing this one, so I hope you guys enjoy!

Raven loves to work, but she can still just as easily appreciate a lazy weekend afternoon. It’s the end of November and she’s sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea and a book. Their golden retriever, Pancake is sitting by her feet and she relishes in the peace and quiet. It’s moments like these where she understands why some people would rather sit at home all day.

“Fuck!” comes a voice from the roof.

Raven frowns, broken out of her trance.

“You said a bad word!” a smaller voice shouts up to the first one.

Raven rolls her eyes and puts down her book. She buttons her sweater, not wanting to commit to a coat, and goes out the side door to see what’s going on.

“You guys okay out here?” she asks as she pokes her head out.

“Dad said fuck!” her son Grey explains from the ground. He’s bundled up in his coat, holding a few strings of lights in his hands. At eight years old, all he wants to do is help his dad every chance he gets, and thankfully Murphy is happy to have a companion. If only he wouldn’t swear so much.

Raven raises an eyebrow. “Grey, what did we say about swear words?”

“That even though Dad has a potty mouth, that doesn’t mean I should say them.” He hangs his head in defeat.

“Murphy, we’ve talked about this!” she calls up to her husband.

Murphy pokes his head out from his spot on the roof. “Don’t act like you don’t have a sailor mouth, too!”

“John.”

He rolls his eyes fondly. When Raven uses Murphy’s first name, he knows she means business.

“Why don’t you guys take a break?” Raven suggests. “I can make you both some hot chocolate.”

Grey perks up at this and goes to throw down the lights he’s holding.

“Grey, remember what we talked about!” Murphy calls from his perch on the roof.

Grey looks up at his father, then carefully lowers the lights to the ground.

“Atta boy.”

Murphy mounts the ladder that lies on the side of the house and climbs down. Grey runs into the house and immediately gets down on the ground to pet the dog. Once Murphy is on the ground again, he smiles that crooked smile at Raven that made her fall in love with him in the first place. It’s rather annoying when she’s trying to be mad at him. Once he’s near her he gives her a quick kiss before coming back into the house.

“Take off your coat and wash your hands, kiddo,” Murphy says before making his own way to the closet.

Grey does as he’s told and Raven fills the kettle with water before putting it onto the stove to heat. By the time she’s done, Grey and Murphy are both back in the kitchen.

“Can I have a cookie, please?” Grey asks, putting on the puppy dog face he makes so often.

“You can have a cookie, baby, you don’t need to make that face.” Raven hands him the jar and he sticks his hand in. “Just one, you’re about to have hot chocolate.”

Eventually the water boils and Raven sets out making two mugs of hot chocolate for her son and her husband. She sets them down in front of them.

“Thank you,” they both say at the same time. Raven can’t help but laugh. Her boys are nothing if not polite. For the most part.

“So how is the light display coming?” Raven asks.

“We haven’t made too much progress yet,” Murphy says. “I was hoping to get a bit more done before the Thanksgiving weekend ended, but I think we might have to go back to the drawing board.”

“Dad says I’m a good helper though,” Grey chimes in.

“That’s great, sweetie.”

“How about after we finish our hot chocolate we go back to my office and work on our drawing some more? Sound good?” Murphy asks.

Grey nods, eager to help in any way he can. Raven chuckles, shaking her head.

Raven hasn’t seen Murphy get this determined or into a project since they were dating. But she knows when her husband sets his mind to something, he will see it through until the end. And this holiday lights display is no exception.

When Raven and Murphy were looking for the house they live in now, they immediately fell in love with the neighborhood. They loved all the space that Grey and Pancake would have to play, with a yard that was much bigger than the one at their old house, and one that was actually fenced in. It was closer to Grey’s school and Raven’s job. It had everything they were looking for, but of course there was a catch.

Each December, the neighborhood has a festive holiday light display. It’s an attraction that brings tourists from all over the city, just to drive by and see what people have come up with. It wasn’t even something they could get out of, since it’s in the neighborhood's covenant. When they learned about it, Murphy lit up immediately. He always got more excited about Christmas than Raven did, but she didn’t expect him to get that excited. But he jumped at the chance to throw up some elaborate decorations. There was an incentive, of course. Though everyone on their street decorated their houses, everyone that stopped by got to vote on the best decorated home.

The winners for multiple years running have been the Griffin-Blakes, who live two doors down. Raven quickly became friends with Clarke, who immediately warned Raven that her husband Bellamy was fairly competitive about the lights display competition. In some respects, Raven understood. He is the reigning champion and from what Clarke says, it sounds like he takes this about as seriously as Murphy is taking the whole thing. It all seems a little dumb to Raven, but if Murphy’s having fun, she’s okay with it. And Grey is also excited, so Raven can’t help but be pleased that her son is enjoying himself too.

“Dad, I think we should add another snowman by the porch,” Grey says seriously.

Murphy takes a moment to consider this suggestion. “You don’t think that’ll mess up the symmetry?”

“That’s why we should’ve bought two of them!”

“There’s still time, we can always go get another one.”

Raven nearly chokes on her tea at that suggestion. “You’re going to get _more_ decorations?”

“This is serious business, Rey. You should’ve seen the way Bellamy looked at me when I said I wanted to go in a different direction from what the old homeowner normally did. It was practically a challenge. I have to step up my game.”

“How can you step up your game when this is our first year in the neighborhood?”

“I have to show everyone I mean business. Grey gets it. Don’t you, kiddo?”

Grey nods. “We have to earn their respect, Mom.”

Raven raises an eyebrow at her son’s words. Murphy definitely told him to say that, but she can’t be so sure. He is also Murphy’s child. So even though he’s as sweet as can be, he still has a bit of edge to him.

“And the best way to earn their respect is to beat Bellamy Blake at his own game.”

“Whatever you say.”

“You’ll see, Reyes. You’ll see. Alright Grey, let’s get back to planning,” Murphy says as he downs the rest of his hot chocolate and stands up from the table.

“I’m not finished with my hot chocolate!” Grey whines.

“You can bring it with you. I want to get everything laid out before you have to go back to school on Monday.”

Grey stands and picks up his mug before following after his dad.

“Focus on where you’re going, Grey!” Raven calls after him.

She chuckles to herself once they’re out of sight.

“There’s never a dull moment with those two, huh, Pancake?” she asks the dog as she leans down to pet him. Pancake rolls over so she can get at his belly. She pets him for another minute, happy to give her sweet dog some love before she picks up her phone and sends Clarke a text.

_The holiday lights planning is getting pretty ridiculous here!_

_Murphy’s already planning another trip to the store._

_Lol! Just you wait. It’ll definitely get worse._

_Haha, well I can’t say I’m looking forward to it._

_It’ll be an adventure, for sure._

_The first year we did it, I had no idea Bellamy could get so competitive._

Raven sighs as she locks her phone. She tries to think of all the positives of Murphy getting too excited about this project. He gets a chance to bond with their son, and he has something to occupy his time during the day. Murphy stayed at home with Grey when he was a baby, but now that he’s been in school for a few years, Raven knows Murphy has been bored during school hours. He doesn’t complain about it often, because he does enjoy staying home, but it definitely took an adjustment when his entire day no longer revolved around Grey.

Raven also sees it as a positive that Grey is having fun, too. He’s a fairly quiet kid, and it’s not often that he gets openly excited about something. He’s already asked if he can invite his friends over to see the display once it’s done. And he loves to spend time with Murphy. He’s been following him around since he could move on his own, much to Murphy’s delight. It’s good for both of them, and that’s what Raven has to focus on. She puts the competitiveness and the potential for disaster if things don’t go their way out of her head. As much as she has faith in the two of them, she doesn’t expect them to win. It’s their first year in the neighborhood. And judging from how Clarke has talked to her, it seems like that would actually make them one or two enemies.

All the same, she swallows down her doubts. Once Murphy’s mind is set on something, he’s going to see it through. She might not understand it, but at least her husband and son are having a good time.

* * *

Bellamy narrows his eyes as he peers out the window and into the yard two doors down. He sees John Murphy and his son working on their display. Grey drags a bin over to the side of the house as Murphy sets the ladder up. They’ve been busy all of Thanksgiving weekend and Bellamy isn’t happy about it.

Bellamy Blake is not always one for competition. Their first year in the neighborhood, Bellamy didn’t put too much stock in the lights competition. He knew he had to decorate, but he mostly just put a lot of effort into it to do something special for Madi. When Bellamy and Clarke adopted her, they’d been having trouble trying to get pregnant, but it turns out all they needed was a little less stress in their lives, because once they adopted Madi, Clarke found out she was pregnant about six months later. Madi had been a bit temperamental when they first adopted her, and Bellamy didn’t want her to feel like the baby would overshadow her or make them love her any less. So he enlisted her help to put up the Christmas lights display on their house. She was only six at the time, but she was quick to give her opinion about how things should look. It was one of the first times he and Madi really bonded. She had become attached to Clarke a lot quicker than she had to Bellamy, and it made Bellamy’s heart soar to finally find a way to relate to her.

They didn’t win the competition that year, but Bellamy cherishes the memories he made with his daughter. It became tradition for them to work on the light display together, and it might have gone to Bellamy’s head the first time they won. The Griffin-Blake display has been the reigning champion for three years running, and Bellamy does not plan for that to change, even if there is some cocky newcomer who thinks he knows everything.

“Dad?” Madi calls from behind him.

He turns to look at her. Her eyebrow is raised in concern. She’s only ten and she’s not their biological child, but she acts more and more like Clarke everyday. It’s almost a little scary.

“Are you looking into Mr. Murphy’s yard again?” she continues.

“He and Grey seem like they’re ahead of schedule. Which means we’re behind,” Bellamy says.

“We’ll get it up on time. We always do. And today’s light inventory!” Madi jumps up and down and Bellamy can’t help but chuckle. Light inventory has always been one of her favorite parts of getting ready for the light display, because it means getting to plug in all the lights and see if any of the bulbs have gone out and which ones need replacing.

“You’re right, today is light inventory. We’d better get cracking. Meet me in the basement in two minutes.”

Madi nods before running off to the basement. Bellamy takes one last look out the window to find Grey giving Murphy instructions from the ground as Murphy putters around on the roof. If Bellamy weren’t so hellbent on winning, it would be a comical sight. He shakes his head before turning away and heading to meet Madi in the basement.

“Please don’t go overboard this year, Bellamy,” Clarke calls to him from the living room. She’s sitting with August on the couch, a book open on his lap. Lately all August wants to do is sit and “read” books to them. He can’t read yet, but he looks at the pictures and explains what he thinks is going on. They could read the same book a million times, but the story is always different.

“I’m not going overboard,” Bellamy protests.

Clarke raises an eyebrow at him. He smiles before walking over to her and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I actually happen to like Raven. She’s the first mom in this neighborhood that I haven’t wanted to punch in the face, please do not ruin this for me,” his wife continues.

“My beef has nothing to do with Raven. It’s her husband that’s the problem!”

“I just don’t get what the big deal is, that’s all.”

Bellamy scoffs. “Clarke, how can you not see how big a deal this is? I mean, who does this Murphy guy think he is? It’s his first year in the neighborhood and he’s already decided he’s going to win? Who thinks like that? I bet he’s never even done an outdoor lights display in his life.”

“Well it’s not like you can stop him from hanging anything up. This competition is supposed to be fun, Bell. You shouldn’t be stressing out this much about it.”

Bellamy knows that Clarke is right. The holiday lights competition is meant to be a fun neighborhood tradition that brings people together to look at all the beautiful lights. But the part of him that works so hard on his display and is proud of the fact that he’s won the competition three years in a row doesn’t take kindly to this Murphy guy coming in thinking he can throw up some lights and a snowman and think that’ll win him first prize. Again, who does this guy think he is?

He would probably be less annoyed about the whole situation had it not been for his first meeting with Murphy when he and his family moved to the neighborhood in August. Bellamy and Clarke were quick to introduce themselves, especially when they found out that Murphy and Raven had a son close to Madi’s age. Bellamy made cookies and they walked over to welcome them. The man that had previously lived in their home was known for his very specific light display each holiday season. In fact, that man had been the reigning champion before Bellamy dethroned him. When Bellamy asked if he would go a similar route, Murphy simply shrugged, saying he was sure he could come up with something better. It almost made Bellamy see red. What a cocky answer. Not only did Murphy sound stupid, but he would surely disappoint some people that had come to expect the fourth house on Arkadia Lane to look a certain way.

Bellamy can feel himself getting worked up, so he takes a deep breath and heads into the basement. Madi is already there, surrounded by their boxes of Christmas decorations. She knows the drill by now, and is the perfect helper for this project. Bellamy gets his notepad so he can write down what he’ll need to get from the store before they really get to work. It takes about an hour for them to go through all their lights, plugging the strands in to see if any bulbs have gone out, and deciding if they should get any more of a certain color. He and Madi tend to stick with the same display, but with an added element each year. It keeps people on their toes and they still have some idea of what to expect.

Once he and Madi are finished with their light inventory, they get in the car and head to the store to buy the extra lights they need and to pick out their new element. They browse around the hardware store, Madi excitedly looking through all of the decorations. Even though she seems to like them all, she still has a discerning eye. Bellamy has always appreciated that in his helper. She knows they can’t pick just anything. They’re looking to wow their neighbors and win for the fourth year in a row.

“I think we should do something with snowflakes,” Madi declares.

“I mean, we have the big snowflakes we can hang up in the windows. How many more snowflakes do we need?” Bellamy asks.

Madi stops in her tracks in the tech aisle. She points at something on a shelf and Bellamy follows her gaze to an outdoor projector.

“Madi, I think you might be a genius.”

Bellamy feels a renewed sense of confidence as they leave the store with their purchases. He and Madi have this in the bag. They’re pros at this point, and he knows their house is going to look great, just like it does every year.

They spend the next day doing the preliminary light hanging, which involves wrapping the neutral strands of lights around the columns of their house. This year Madi has deemed herself old enough to help out with this part. Clarke seems okay with it as long as they’re careful. Bellamy keeps hold of Madi’s waist as she stands on a step ladder and strings the lights up. Bellamy goes to plug everything in once that’s all finished, and the two of them step back to admire their work.

“This already looks great!” Bellamy says with a nod. “Nice job, Madi.”

Madi smiles. “I told you I could do it.”

He chuckles, patting his daughter on the head. “So what other things do you want to put in the yard?”

“Well I wanted to do snowmen this year, but Grey and his dad already put snowmen up. And I don’t want it to seem like we’re copying them.”

Bellamy frowns, looking over to Murphy’s yard again. There are snowmen on each side of the staircase leading up to the house. He grumbles to himself, but turns back to Madi.

“You know what’s even better than snowmen? Santa and all his reindeer. We can bring those up from the basement when we work on this tomorrow. Now why don’t we go inside so we can get ready for dinner?”

Madi nods, then runs ahead into the house. Bellamy takes one last look over into Murphy’s yard before following her inside. He can tell that Murphy’s display is shaping up nicely. He hasn’t turned on the lights yet for the evening, but with each passing day more things continue to get added to the yard. A snowman here, an assortment of snowflakes there. Bellamy would be more nervous were it not for the fact that he and Madi had their projector idea that he couldn’t wait to set up, but that would be one of the finishing touches. Bellamy knows in his gut that he’s still the reigning champion of the competition, and he doesn’t think that’s going to change any time soon. Murphy can try all he wants, but Bellamy came prepared.

*** * ***

Murphy stares at the white board that he and Grey have commandeered as their lights display planner. It’s technically Raven’s, since she uses it for drafting on days she works from home, but she graciously allowed them the use of it for the month of December. She rolled her eyes when he asked if he could borrow it, but she didn’t do much besides grumble under her breath. Murphy knows Raven thinks this whole thing is ridiculous. But she loves him, so she lets him do his thing, so long as nobody gets hurt.

Murphy doesn’t think he’d be taking this so seriously if it hadn’t felt like Bellamy Blake had given him an outright challenge. He seems nice enough, but his inquiry into what Murphy was going to do for his light display was incredibly condescending. Sure, this is Murphy’s first year with a house of this size and he hasn’t done much in terms of outdoor decorations before. But that doesn’t mean that he has no clue how to decorate. Murphy has taste. And he wants Grey to have a nice and memorable first holiday season in their new house, and if that includes a ridiculous light display that outdoes the Griffin-Blake house, then that’s just an added bonus. Bellamy clearly doesn’t know Murphy, and he doesn’t take lightly to being challenged.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Murphy and Grey’s display is coming along nicely. Murphy has been back to the store a few times acquiring extra supplies, but he thinks they finally have enough. He would go back, but Raven finally gave him a spending limit or they wouldn’t have money for Christmas presents. He’s glad he has his wife in moments like these.

It’s just about time for Murphy to walk the dog, so he caps his dry erase marker and leaves his office. He doesn’t like to do too much planning on the display when Grey is at school, because Grey has a lot of suggestions and isn’t a fan of too much happening without him. But Murphy still takes time throughout the day to look at the board, because he doesn’t have much else to do once he’s finished cleaning. And since it’s Raven’s day to pick Grey up from school, he has a bit more time than usual.

“Pancake!” Murphy calls as he makes his way to the back door. He hears the jingling from the dog’s collar as he makes his way into the kitchen.

Murphy never pictured himself with a dog. If anything, he’s more of a cat person. But Raven and Grey both love dogs, so if they were going to get any pet, Murphy was happy to get whatever they wanted. Grey had been asking for a dog for a few years, and he was quick to wear Raven down since she wanted one as well. When the time finally came and they decided Grey was old enough to help take care of a pet, he turned out to be very helpful with dog training. They also let Grey name him, which is why they ended up with a dog named Pancake. Murphy sometimes feels silly calling for him, and he finds it difficult to be mad at a dog named after a delicious breakfast food. Needless to say, dogs have grown on him a little bit.

Murphy throws on his coat and puts on his headphones and puts Pancake on his leash before getting a few poop bags and heading out the door. Pancake gets the most excited for his afternoon walk, because it normally means that he sees other people walking around, specifically children as they’re getting home from school. That’s one of the things that Murphy likes about this new neighborhood. There are more kids for Grey to be friends with, even though he’s usually keen to keep to himself. The one thing that Murphy would rather not have on their afternoon walks are people stopping to talk to him though, hence the headphones.

They take their usual circuit, Murphy listening to a true crime podcast to occupy the time. It’s a fairly normal walk, though Murphy stops in his tracks as they’re on the way back. Bellamy is in his front yard fiddling with one of his Santa decorations. The Griffin-Blake display is really coming together. He’s not sure what compels him to, but Murphy pulls off his headphones and gets Bellamy’s attention.

“Hey, neighbor!” Murphy calls.

Bellamy looks up from his task in confusion, but nods politely when he sees it’s Murphy. He stands up and comes over to the sidewalk.

“This looks like it’s coming together,” Murphy says gesturing to the yard.

“Yeah, we’re getting down to crunch time. Are you almost finished with your display?” Bellamy asks.

“We are. But Grey doesn’t like for me to do anything without him, so we’ll be putting up the finishing touches before this weekend.”

“I get that. Madi is basically in charge at this point. It’s nice that it’s our little thing we do together.”

Murphy nods. This is the nicest conversation he’s ever had with Bellamy Blake, and he can’t say that he minds it. Maybe he had been letting his competitive side get the better of him. Has he been missing out on a friend? Raven gets along swimmingly with Bellamy’s wife, so Bellamy can’t be all that bad.

“And the big reveal day is coming up! It’s all Grey can talk about. He’s so cute, he keeps asking if I think we’ll win.”

Bellamy chuckles, shaking his head. “Yeah? And what do you say?”

He shrugs. “I say I think there’s a good chance it could happen.”

“And if you don’t, there’s always next year.”

“Sure. But I like to build up his confidence every now and again.”

“What matters is that you’re both having fun.” Bellamy gives Murphy that smug smile from the first day they met, and suddenly Murphy can’t remember why he thought stopping to say hello was a good idea.

“And it’ll be even more fun when we win,” Murphy declares. “I’d love to stay and chat for longer, but Pancake and I should be heading home. He likes to greet Grey when he gets back from school.”

“You and Pancake have a great rest of your day.”

Murphy forces a smile, refraining from saying something back to that snarky goodbye, as he and Pancake make their way back home.

“You have a great day everyday, don’t you Pancake?” he asks his dog as they head inside. “I know you do, you’ve got it made. Must be nice to be a dog.”

Murphy washes his hands and starts getting dinner together for when Raven and Grey get home. He’s chopping vegetables for the salad as he hears Raven’s key in the door. As expected, Pancake runs to greet them.

“Pancake!” Grey shouts as he steps inside. The dog excitedly wags his tail, allowing Grey to pet him.

“All the way inside first, Grey,” Raven reminds him. He gets so excited about saying hi to the dog that he doesn’t fully step inside and it lets all the cold air in.

“Hi, Dad!” Grey says.

“Hey, kiddo! Good day at school?” Murphy asks.

“Yeah, I was telling all my friends about the lights. And Mom said I could invite them to the neighborhood light walk, and they said they would ask their parents.”

Raven plants a kiss on Murphy’s cheek. “I texted all their parents with the details.”

Murphy puts down his knife and watches his son as he takes off his coat. “You’re really that excited about this, Grey?”

Grey nods. “Yeah. It’s fun, and they’ll get to see our new house.”

“They can see the new house anytime, you just have to ask if they can come over.”

“I know. But it’ll be cool to show them the house with all the people around looking at our display.”

Murphy really hasn’t seen Grey this excited about anything in a while, and now he’s almost worried that if they don’t win he’ll be crushed. He doesn’t want to see his kid upset. He knows everything in life isn’t about winning, and he’s told that to Grey too. Though maybe in this particular instance, the sentiment isn’t seeming to stick.

“Well if their parents say it’s alright, then that’s fine with me. Dinner’s not ready yet, do you have any homework?”

“I have five pages in my math workbook, and I’m just supposed to read a book.”

“Why don’t you go work on the math until dinner, sound good?”

Grey nods and takes his backpack and coat before leaving the room. Raven is putting food into Pancake’s bowl for his dinner, but once Grey is gone and she stands up again, she looks up at Murphy, slight concern crossing over her face. Maybe she’s got the same thought on her mind.

“You know I didn’t think he would get this into it,” Murphy admits.

“I don’t think it helps that all you can seem to talk about is beating Bellamy Blake,” Raven says, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

“Okay, okay. Not necessarily my finest parenting moment. I might have gotten a little carried away.”

Raven chuckles. “Just a little?”

“Or a lot, but you know, I think that’s subjective.”

“You just talk about winning like it’s a sure thing. And I’m not saying I don’t believe in you guys, but it is our first year in the neighborhood, and you really don’t have much of an idea of what people normally pull off. The lights are nice, they really are. But I think Grey has caught on to how much you talk about winning, and I don’t want that to be the only thing he’s thinking about.”

Murphy almost wants to laugh, considering how competitive his wife can get. “Who are you, and what have you done with Raven Reyes?”

She laughs. “I’m still here. And trust me, I’m rooting for you guys to win, especially when you’ve worked so hard. But I also get that it’s probably not the best life lesson for our eight-year-old that everything has to be a competition.”

He nods. “You’re right. I’ll talk to him.”

She smiles, reaching up to catch her lips with his. “Thank you. Do you need any help?”

“Nah, put your feet up. I’m sure you had a long day.”

Raven pats Murphy on the cheek as she heads into the living room, leaving him to finish up dinner. As they eat dinner that night, Grey is practically vibrating in his chair, talking about how excited he is for all his friends to see the big project he’s been working on with his dad. It puts a big smile on Murphy’s face to hear his son talk about how much fun he’s been having when they spend time together. Murphy had never thought that much about having kids, and honestly Grey had been a bit of a surprise when they found out Raven was pregnant. But it was like a switch flipped when he found out the news he was going to be a dad. All he’s ever wanted is to make sure Grey feels loved and appreciated, so all this excitement surrounding an activity they embarked on together makes Murphy’s heart swell. He loves his kid so much, and he’s even more glad that they chose this house and neighborhood to move to, because decorating seems like it could become a fun tradition that they can continue even as Grey gets older.

That night when Grey is just about ready for bed, Murphy knocks on the door to his room.

“Come in!” Grey calls from inside. Murphy opens the door and sticks his head in. Grey is in his bed reading a book. He looks up and smiles when he sees his dad in the doorway.

“Hey, kiddo. Can we talk?” Murphy asks.

“Yeah.”

Murphy comes all the way in and sits down on the foot of Grey’s bed. Grey closes his book and gives his undivided attention.

“So you’re having a lot of fun with the lights display, right?”

Grey nods. “Yeah. Do you think the winner gets a trophy?”

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll see on the day. Now I know I’ve talked a lot about wanting to win, but you know that’s not what’s most important, right?”

“But I heard you telling Mom last night that we basically have it in the bag.”

Murphy frowns. “What were you doing out of bed?”

“I had to go to the bathroom.”

“Well, did you also hear what Mom said after when she told me to cool it?”

Grey shakes his head.

“You should learn one thing early on, and learn it quick. In most situations, your mom is usually right, and this is no exception. I’m glad that you’re having a lot of fun with the display, and I’m having a lot of fun too. But it’s not about who wins, and I might have lost sight of that in the process. The important thing is that we’re having a good time.”

“But won’t it be nice if we win?”

“Yeah, of course! And it definitely feels nice to win things. But if you’re only focused on winning, it can make things a lot less fun, and we’re trying to have fun. And if we don’t win, there’s always next year. Does that make sense?”

Grey takes a moment to process, but eventually nods. “Yeah, I understand. And I am having a lot of fun with you, Dad.”

Murphy smiles, reaching out to ruffle Grey’s hair. “I’m having a lot of fun with you too, kiddo. And just think, we’ll get to do it all again next year.”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, well tomorrow when you get home from school we can start adding the finishing touches before this weekend.”

Grey nods and lies back, settling himself into bed for the night. Murphy gets up and tucks him in, pressing a kiss to his head.

“Good night, Grey.”

“Good night, Dad.”

Murphy turns out the light as he goes, feeling slightly better now that he and Grey have had their little talk. He goes into his bedroom, where Raven is already settled in reading a book of her own. He chuckles to himself as he notices the enthralled look on her face as she reads, not unlike the face Grey was making as he was reading earlier. She marks her page as Murphy comes in and flops down on the bed.

“Good talk?” she asks.

“Yeah. I think he gets not everything is about winning. And he’s excited at the chance to do this again next year.”

Raven nods, patting Murphy’s arm. “That’s good. I’m glad that you guys have this thing you can do together.”

“Yeah, me too. Who knows, he might not want to help by the time we get to next year, but at least we had fun this time around.”

“Please, if he’s anything like either of us and your display doesn’t win, he’ll be determined to make the display even better next year.”

Murphy laughs. “Fair point. He really is our kid.”

Raven scoffs. “As if that was ever in question.”

Murphy and Raven talk for a little while longer before they get ready to turn in for the night. He relishes in the quiet moments with his wife, hearing more about her day now that Grey is asleep. It’s nice just to have time to themselves for a bit, as great as Grey is. And Murphy feels like he can actually enjoy this part of their nightly routine without having to worry too much about Grey’s hopes and dreams being crushed if they don’t end up winning the light walk. He won’t say it to Raven or Grey, but he still thinks they’re going to win. He can’t wait to see the look on Bellamy’s face when the moment comes.

*** * ***

Clarke helps August into his coat despite his protests. She’s convinced he likes to be contrary on purpose, but he’s so cute that even in his more insolent moments, she can’t help but smile to herself.

“Augie, it’s cold outside, and when it’s cold we bundle up, okay?” she asks.

“I don’t wanna go outside!” August responds simply.

“If you don’t go outside, then we don’t get to see the pretty lights that Daddy and Madi put up on the house.”

Bellamy comes into the hallway from the kitchen and opens the closet pulling out his own coat.

“Look, Daddy is putting on his coat,” Clarke says to August.

Bellamy pulls his hat down over his head then makes his way over to them.

“Come on, buddy. Don’t you want to sit on my shoulders when we go outside?” Bellamy asks.

August nods.

“Then you have to put your coat on. That way you’ll be nice and warm. And then you can sit on my shoulders.”

August smiles, finally allowing Clarke to zip his coat all the way up. Bellamy is almost like a child whisperer sometimes, she’ll never understand how he does it. But that’s just another reason she’s thankful to have him in her corner. She couldn’t be happier that he’s her partner in all this.

Madi bounds into the hall and gets her coat, throwing it on quickly.

“Whoa, what’s the rush?” Clarke asks.

“Can I go ahead? Charlotte is already outside and we were going to walk together,” Madi explains.

“That’s fine. Do you have money for the snack stand?”

“Dad gave me some already.”

“Okay, well I guess we’ll meet you at the end.”

Madi smiles and makes her way out the front door to find her friend.

“They grow up so fast,” Bellamy jokes.

Clarke chuckles, shaking her head. “Suddenly we’re just not interesting anymore.”

“Well at least August still wants to hang out with us. Right, buddy?”

Bellamy scoops August up in his arms and places him on his shoulders. August lets out an excited giggle, always happy to feel a bit taller. Clarke gets her own coat and hat from the closet and the three of them make their way outside.

The neighborhood holiday light walk is not at all Clarke’s favorite thing. She was honestly surprised how into the whole thing Bellamy seemed to be when they first moved to this neighborhood. She had never seen him take a project so seriously before, and it was equal parts scary and incredibly attractive. Clarke understands that Bellamy’s excitement for some of these traditions comes from not necessarily having the most traditional Christmas traditions when he was a kid. So his excitement for this has only been exacerbated now that they have kids, even more so now that Madi is older and she can more easily help.

Clarke was a bit nervous when Bellamy met Raven and her husband Murphy. She’s still a little lost as to why he makes people call him Murphy, but it’s not really her business what the man does and doesn’t do. Clarke ran into Raven first, and the two hit it off right away. But when Raven mentioned that Murphy was almost too excited about doing a holiday lights display now that they were in the neighborhood, Clarke had to suppress a shudder. And it didn’t help matters that Bellamy seemed slightly affronted after his first interaction with Murphy having to do with the displays.

If someone were to ask Clarke, she would say the whole thing is stupid. Sure, it’s nice to see the whole neighborhood lit up, and someone would probably just accuse her of not being in the Christmas spirit, but she’s seen what it brings out in her husband, this year in particular now that he has new competition. Clarke has walked by Murphy and Raven’s house a few times since Thanksgiving, and she’s been rather impressed by the elements that continue to appear. Murphy and Grey have really worked hard. She knows Bellamy and Madi worked hard too, but she just wishes that Bellamy would focus a bit more on the fun of it all, rather than winning.

It’s hard to begrudge Bellamy something he enjoys so much when their house does turn out looking so beautiful each year. They shut the door and Bellamy locks it behind them, and before they start on the path to look at other people’s displays, they take a moment to admire theirs. Along with the normal multi-colored lights that always adorn the column of their house, this year Bellamy and Madi have added light-up snowflakes to each window as well as the inflatable Santa they put on the roof each year.

In the yard, Santa’s sleigh and his reindeer glow in the early evening light and candy canes line the walkway up to their house. Clarke steps further out to see that there are even more snowflakes swirling on the house, coming from a small projector in Santa’s sleigh. Every so often they change colors. She frowns, trying to remember if they owned a light projector before this year, but she’s almost positive they didn’t. She briefly wonders what it cost, but doesn’t care since it looks so cool. For all the trouble it can sometimes cause, Bellamy and Madi always make the house look so nice, and Clarke smiles to herself as she takes in the sight.

She turns to look at Bellamy, who now has August on his shoulders. He’s pointing out different parts of the display to him as August looks on in wide-eyed wonder. Clarke chuckles to himself, thinking that their son is probably glad he put his coat on so he could see this.

“It looks great, Bell,” Clarke says.

Bellamy looks at her and smiles. “Thank you. The projector was all Madi’s idea. Very inventive.”

“What do you think, Augie?” Clarke asks, looking up at him atop Bellamy’s shoulders. “Is it pretty?”

August nods. “Santa is here!”

Bellamy laughs. “That’s not Santa, buddy. It’s one of his helpers.”

“Why won’t he move?”

“He stays in one place, but Santa will still be able to get on the roof when it’s time. How about we go look at the other lights?”

“Okay!”

Bellamy and Clarke exchange a smile and start on the walk through the neighborhood. As much as Clarke thinks this is all kind of dumb, she can’t help but be a little enchanted at everyone’s houses all lit up. She’ll admit to having a little Christmas spirit just this once.

They stop in front of Murphy’s house, where Grey is jumping up and down showing off the display to some of his friends. Murphy and Raven are standing off to the side, watching Grey explain the lights to everyone. Raven sees Clarke and Bellamy first. She smiles and waves as they approach.

“Hey, guys!” Raven says.

“Hi!” Clarke says. “Welcome to your first neighborhood light walk.”

Murphy nods. “Thank you. I’m excited, but I don’t think I can speak for Raven and say she is.”

Raven rolls her eyes. “I’m excited. Just not as excited as you are.”

“Well you should be, because you are lucky enough to live under the same roof as the minds behind John and Grey’s Winter Wonderland.”

Clarke frowns. “Who is John?”

Raven and Murphy laugh. Bellamy pats her on the shoulder.

“Baby, that was kind of funny!” Bellamy chuckles. Clarke laughs along with them, but she wasn’t completely joking. She had no idea that Murphy’s first name was John until this moment, but she figures it’s easier to play it off than tell them she didn’t know her neighbor’s first name.

“Anyway, I hope you enjoy our little masterpiece. Soon to be award-winning,” Murphy says, gesturing to the house.

Clarke is rather impressed with how this turned out, especially considering Murphy said he’s never done an outdoor lights display before. She gets the winter wonderland theme, with lights hanging off the house like icicles, snowmen throughout the yard, even lights decorating the trees. Clarke would never say so to Bellamy, but she thinks this looks better than his attempt the first year they were in the neighborhood.

“Impressive, Murphy,” Bellamy says with a nod. “I guess we’ll see what the rest of the neighborhood has to say.”

“I guess we will. May the best man win.” Murphy extends a hand and Bellamy reaches out to shake it. They stare at each other for maybe too long before Murphy shouts to his son. “Grey, let’s go look at the other houses!”

“Okay!” Grey shouts, motioning for his friends to follow him. He and Murphy, along with Grey’s friends all start following the other neighbors through the street as they go to inspect the other houses.

“Do you wanna find Madi, August?” Bellamy asks.

“Yeah!” August says.

“You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up,” Clarke tells them.

Bellamy nods, starting up the street.

August turns and waves to Clarke. “Bye, Mama!”

“See you soon, baby!” Clarke calls. She turns to Raven, who is looking after August with a grin on her face.

“He is too cute,” Raven says. “I miss that age.”

“Yeah, I feel like just yesterday I was holding him in the hospital, but now he’s four. Time moves way too fast when you have little ones.”

“For real. Grey is so sweet, and I’m hoping that stays the same as we start to move into his pre-teen years.”

“I think he will. He seems like a great kid.”

Raven nods. “He is.”

Clarke and Raven start walking up the street after the others, taking in the decorations on each house as they go. Clarke has noticed that some of the neighbors don’t even try anymore, because everyone is so used to Bellamy winning. It was probably nice for him to have some real competition again in Murphy.

“So how are you liking the light walk so far?” Clarke asks.

“It’s nice,” Raven says. “A fun little tradition. I almost didn’t want the house when we found out about the decorations thing, but Murphy got so excited and when he told Grey it was basically a done deal. They’ve had so much fun though. I’m happy they’re happy.”

“That’s how I feel about Bellamy and Madi. Madi doesn’t get as competitive as Bellamy, and honestly I haven’t seen Bellamy work this hard on the display since the first time he won. Murphy really kept him on his toes.”

Raven chuckles. “Well I’m glad our husbands have so much fun with this.”

“And Murphy’s done a great job, so I get why he was having so much fun. It’s really impressive for a newcomer.”

“I won’t tell him you said that because it’ll just go straight to his head. But good to know all the expletives he shouted from the roof were worth it in the end.”

Clarke laughs, picturing Murphy standing on the roof of his house grumbling to himself. She’s excited to hopefully get to know Raven and her family a bit more now that the tension of the holidays will be past them soon. Maybe once the light walk winner is declared, they can all just be normal friends.

Clarke and Raven chat idly as they walk through the neighborhood until they finally reach the square where everyone else is gathered for the announcement of the winners. Clarke doesn’t think she’ll ever understand why Bellamy gets so excited about winning this every year. There isn’t much of a prize. He just gets his picture taken in front of the house for the neighborhood newsletter and a gift card to a hardware store, but if that’s fun for him, Clarke will let him have it.

The neighborhood association president steps up onto the makeshift stage and begins his regular spiel about the light walk and bringing everyone together each year. As he talks, Madi makes her way back to Clarke, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand. Bellamy and August are not far behind. Murphy and Grey slide in next to Raven with hot chocolates of their own as the crowd applauds the third place winner.

“In a very close second place we have John and Grey Murphy, at 106 Arkadia Lane!”

Everyone claps, and Clarke watches as Murphy shakes Grey’s shoulders, a big smile on his face.

“Not bad for our first year, kiddo!” Murphy says to his son.

“And in first place, we have Bellamy Blake and Madi Griffin-Blake at 102 Arkadia Lane! Congratulations to everyone!”

Madi jumps up and down and August claps excitedly. Clarke smiles, patting Bellamy on the back. He just grins. He’s used to this by now, seeing as this is the fourth year in a row that he’s won, but Clarke knows that it never gets old.

“Congrats,” Clarke says.

“Thank you for indulging me,” Bellamy says before giving her a quick kiss.

Murphy walks over to Bellamy. “Hey, nice job, man. The projector was a nice touch.”

“Thanks. That was Madi’s idea. And great job with your house. Second place in your first year is impressive,” Bellamy says.

“We’ll get you next year. Grey already has all sorts of plans.”

Bellamy chuckles. “Can’t wait. You’ve been a worthy opponent.”

They wave goodbye as Murphy, Raven, Grey and his friends start to head back to their house.

Clarke turns to Bellamy. “So do you think it’ll be easier for you to be friends with Murphy now?”

“Yeah. But if he thinks he’s winning next year, he’s got another thing coming.”

Clarke shakes her head, amused by her husband’s antics. If there’s one thing she loves, it’s seeing her husband and kids happy. So if this silly lights competition that gets them almost nothing is one of those things, then she’s all for it. In the back of her mind, she kind of hopes that Murphy does beat Bellamy next year, just so she can see the look on Bellamy’s face when they announce the winners. It would definitely be funny. But for now, they’ve got about a whole year of normalcy ahead of them before she even has to think of their Christmas lights again and she won’t pretend she’s not grateful.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think.
> 
> I've still got quite a few prompts I'm filling for t100 Fic for BLM that are coming up soon! As I've said before if you want to see more Murven from me, I am always down for a one-shot prompt, so check out [our carrd](https://t100fic-for-blm.carrd.co/) for more info on how that process works! And don't forget I am accepting prompts for WIP updates to both [Miss Griffin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28438374/chapters/69687903) and [Piece Me Back Together](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27457063/chapters/67126150).
> 
> If you ever wanna come chat, you can find me on [Tumblr](https://queenemori.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/queen_emori).


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